Clarity
by Verdot
Summary: [Legend of Mana] Sandra has a cold sort of clarity about the world.


Three years ago I started writing fanfic. I wrote three very strange stream of consciousness things that weren't very good. Well, I noticed that it was in September that I started posting stuff on here, and I figured I'd might as well write something to celebrate. Named similar to the original three--Duality, Tenacity, and Simplicity, respectively--but I think probably a little more... substance-y. If that makes sense. I haven't played the game in a while (god, do I NEED to, I wish I still owned it) so excuse me if specific details are a little rusty. I've always meant to write something from Sandra's perspective so... here it is.

* * *

Sandra--Alexandra was dead dead _dead_--always wondered why all the ranks of the Jumi reflected the core and never the person.

When she looked in the mirror and pulled back the high collar to look at her own core, her own gem, it still sparkled. The old ones used to talk about how they were blessed because it was their _heart_ and that anyone could see how good you were by the shine. The facets in the sun like the facets of their personalities.

She used to believe it, like other people believed in mystical forces, but she'd grown up.

Maybe it was the wars, the endless wars over the years. She'd seen the brightest of diamonds stab at a corpse beyond the point that it was dead. At first, it was survival; protection. Keeping the _hunters_ from their hearts. And then, the Knights started to fight just a little longer. They realized that they could conquer lands, if only they reached out a little further.

And they were invincible. Their Guardians always cried.

She used to wonder what it would have been like if those that were not Jumi knew that it wasn't their cores that were precious. It was always the tears. The gems sang, but they never healed. As long as they could cry and feel, they could live. She always wondered why they wanted to live so long, but she never complained. There were worse things than a long life.

"You think it's wrong, don't you."

Of course, she didn't answer. It was a wonder that she could even remain conscious. The years had not been kind to Florina.

The only truth to idea that hearts were reflected in their cores was in the Clarius. The first Clarius Sandra had ever seen was a sapphire whose sorrow was deep enough to drown in. She'd become a Knight because she wanted to know why someone held in such high respect could be so _sad_.

She hadn't been naive enough to not see how that one had withered.

"Well, I think what they were doing to you is wrong."

There wasn't an exact moment that she knew, that she realized precisely what she wanted to live her life for. Florina wasn't a stunning beauty like Diana, nor was she a legendary warrior like Lady Blackpearl. Sandra hadn't realized she was the next Clarius either. Maybe it was the ache that a Knight without a Guardian felt, maybe it was that kind of selfless sorrow that all Clarius since the wars had started seemed to have. Sandra found herself entranced by the girl.

Sandra killed many people to get to her.

She wasn't sure what it was; love or obsession or something purer than both. Sandra memorized the lines of Florina's long long hair and the slight twinkle in her eye when she was around. The heart wasn't in their cores--it was in Florina's shy smile. A lesser person wouldn't have been able to handle what was really expected of the Clarius.

It was obviously some kind of punishment for their wicked ways that only one could express sorrow anymore. It was obviously punishment for her own arrogance and ambition and doubt that it was Florina's burden.

Her distaste for her own people started when she was much younger, but it boiled over when Florina showed the first signs of growing dim. Sandra had worked hard to be her Knight, to protect her from the world and what did her own people, the _great_ Jumi do?

They sapped the life from an untarnished soul to feed their greed for immortality.

Faking her death was easy. She'd almost flinched when Florina knelt down and put her cool hand to her cheek. A maddening gesture, but Sandra doing so much more than faking her death. She was going to take the life back, piece by piece, core by core until Florina was restored. They didn't deserve their Clarius. And as a Knight, well, the only punishment could be death.

"It was either you or them, Florina. But you'll think I'm wrong. You do think I'm wrong."

When she looked at it the _right_ way, she wasn't killing them in cold blood. It was nature's joke that they had gems instead of hearts to begin with. The same joke that had sent hunters after them for centuries. The same joke that kept Florina weak and asleep in Sandra's jewelry box. That crazy old man had told her that if she collected enough cores that it would...

No, she was liberating them.


End file.
